Taliban in Moscow After Trump Comments 09/14 09:00
MOSCOW (AP) -- A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia,
a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President
Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan.
Russian state news agency Tass cited the Taliban's Qatar-based spokesman
Suhail Shaheen as saying the delegation had held consultations with Zamir
Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Afghanistan. The visit was
confirmed to the AP by a Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified Russian Foreign Ministry
spokesman as saying the meeting in Russia underlined the necessity of renewing
talks between the U.S. and the Taliban, and that the Taliban confirmed their
readiness to continuing dialogue with Washington.
It was the Taliban's first international visit following the collapse of
talks with Washington. The team was being led by Mullah Sher Mohammad Stanikzai.
"This is a notable development, as it suggests the Taliban wants to
underscore its continued interest in dialogue, even after President Trump
pulled the plug on the US-Taliban talks," said Michael Kugelman, deputy
director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center. "And how
striking that the insurgents have chosen to telegraph a message of conciliation
by engaging with Moscow, a key U.S. rival that has made great efforts to deepen
ties with the Taliban in recent months."
In a weekend tweet, Trump had called off negotiations and canceled a meeting
he said he wanted to have with Afghan government leaders and the Taliban at the
Camp David presidential retreat.
Shaheen told the Taliban's official website on Tuesday that the group was
still communicating with U.S. negotiators, at least to find out what to do next.
The Taliban shura, or leadership council, opposed its negotiators going to
Camp David and admonished those who had accepted U.S. peace envoy Zalmay
Khalilzad's invitation that was extended at the end of August.
Shaheen was quoted on the website as saying the Camp David visit was
delayed, saying the Taliban wanted the agreement signed and witnessed by
foreign ministers of several countries, including Russia. He said Taliban also
wanted Qatar to announce the agreement before any Camp David meeting.
Moscow has been accused of aiding the Taliban as a safeguard against a
burgeoning Islamic State affiliate that has close ties to the Islamic Movement
of Afghanistan, a militant group in Central Asia. Russia has stepped up its
defenses in Central Asia and has claimed thousands of IS fighters were in
northern Afghanistan
Moscow has twice this year hosted meetings between the Taliban and prominent
Afghan personalities.
While Washington has been seeking an exit to its longest war, the Taliban
are at their strongest since their ouster in 2001 and hold sway over more than
half the country, staging near-daily, deadly attacks across Afghanistan.
Khalilzad's year-long peace mission has been Washington's most dedicated
push for peace, focusing not just on the Taliban, Afghanistan's government and
prominent Afghan powerbrokers but also on Pakistan and Russia, as well as Iran,
which has trained Afghan fighters known as the Fatimayoun Brigade that fought
alongside Iran's Revolutionary Guard in Syria.
Khalilzad has focused his efforts on regional players almost as much as on
the Taliban and Afghan government interlocutors. Earlier this year, the U.S.
released a statement signed by the U.S., China and Russia supporting
Khalilzad's peace efforts that called not just for an agreement on U.S. and
NATO troop withdrawal and Taliban anti-terrorism guarantees but also a promise
for intra-Afghan talks in which Afghans would decide the fate of their country
as well as the terms of a cease-fire.
(KR)